In memory of E.L. Doctorow, who passed away on July 21 at the age of 84, PEN features a piece from our archives. In this podcast Doctorow reads from his novel City of God at the 2011 PEN event "Viva" at the Belarus Free Theatre.

And I trust people // to make good choices / so I don’t have to impale them // on the tines of my pitchfork. Or otherwise // govern them. Why do you need so much / government, if you don’t like government why // do you insist upon making / these bad choices.

"There was a time in my twenties when I didn’t write because it was too difficult. I had elevated the concept of “being a writer” to a status I felt I didn’t deserve, and the cheeky teenager who wrote those 27 pages without blinking lost her way for a while."